To abandon the extension?

[Extendorsave]

Just after some opinions really as DH and I can't decide what to do and are after some Mumsnet wisdom.
We bought a 1930s semi 2 years ago with the intention of doing an extension. It's a 5 bed semi (2 rooms in the loft) but it needed loads of work. It currently has a small old kitchen and separate dining room, it feels small downstairs. Our plan was to knock through, get a new kitchen and build a utility on the side. We've been quoted about 50-60k for this. We borrowed the money as part of the initial mortgage, planning to do it quicky and have it in a high interest account.
We have 3 kids aged 8, 5 and 2, and planning one more possibly.

As time goes on I feel like we would be better off keeping this money. I imagine all the lovely holidays it would cover, and possibly helping the kids through expensive phases. We are not struggling for money, we can afford a basic holiday every year, but the extra money would mean nicer holidays, maybe extra trips, the ability to not worry about money and buy things we need. Or we could even pay off some of the 380k mortgage!
We also have an additional 30k in savings if that makes a difference, which is our back up money as DH is self employed, so it will remain untouched.

My DH thinks we should do the extension and prioritise making the house nice to live in, I am having doubts as I'm not sure a side utility will make a huge amount of difference to our lives but I do see how much nicer it would be to have an open plan space for having friends over and spending more time together as a family. I don't think it would add much value we there is a ceiling to houses in our road. We might not make it all back if we sold and ideally we don't want to move for a long time.

Anyone had a similar dilemma? What did you do?

Personal decision of course but I’d opt for the extension on the basis of two things really:

• we like spending our money where we get the most use day-to-day and long term (think very boring things like nice mattresses, a good hoover and a comfy sofa), with a lovely space we would enjoy it for hours every day
• secondly I haven’t always found a correlation between the amount I’ve spent on holidays and the amount I’ve remembered or enjoyed them! By which I mean, more expensive holidays can mean more pressure and less enjoyment!

This is really really helpful thank you.

The kitchen at the moment is not ideal at all. We have to do something even if it's not the whole extension/knock through. We have an ancient oven that can only do for example, one pizza at a time (came with the property) and no dishwasher.
We noticed a big difference in our quality of life after leaving our open plan flat, as we used to all chat whilst cooking etc and play music and it all felt really sociable.
We don't have much storage for the things you mentioned.
It would be really useful to get a drier, I've never had one.
At the moment we used the dining room as a dining room/playroom.

I think my big issue is that I'm wary of doing the extension and then wanting to move. There's things I'd like to move for (larger south/west facing garden, driveway, larger downstairs space) but those aren't necessarily deal breakers, but I struggle with the idea of committing to this house for a long time by putting 60k into it, but I do love some aspects of the house.

Thanks for all the advice it's really really helpful, even the people who tell me I'm stupid 😂

Knock through. Maybe get a decent shed with electrics, plumbing and ventilation for the utility. Stand alone if needed. I wouldn't spend money on a utility as it would not be liveable space. But I have one already that I squeezed into a downstairs loo by reconfiguring the space (took some off the hallway). No extension. It has a washer and dryer stacked, a sink, some shelves, a tall skinny cupboard for the mops and brushes etc. Oh and a toilet! Not much floor space for sure, but it works fine for me.

We have a similar house to you - we extended into the loft but couldnt afford to do the downstairs extension. Our house was very top heavy and as the DC grew up it became harder and more difficulty living here as everything was too cramped downstairs (original separate lounge, diner and kitchen).

Over covid we finally got the downstairs extension and I dont say this lightly - it has changed our lives. I am so much happier, as are the DC that we finally have enough room to live, use the kitchen, have friends & family round etc.

3 years on its definitely worth the stress & expense of having it done. No nice holidays or nice cars would ever make up for how good the house makes me feel now and how much our family has benefitted from it.

As your DC grow up and get bigger, you will really need more downstairs space - dont delay and get it done asap as it will only cost more the longer you wait.

What about knocking through to make it open plan, and a new kitchen, but not building an extension? This would be a middle ground cost wise.

Don't spend the money on holidays though, you should pay back your mortgage.

Your question is equivalent to "Should I borrow 50k against the mortgage so we can go on some nice holidays?" I hope you realise how silly this sounds. Either build the extension or pay it back (or invest it really well if the mortgage is low interest).

Rather than extending out to the side and losing side access. How about knocking through the kitchen and dining room and extending out slightly in line with the edge of the conservatory.
then keep your current doorways but create an internal utility / laundry room (even if it’s only the dryer in there to save on sorting out plumbing for a washer).

if you didn’t want to extend out the back or to keep costs lower, keep the existing back wall but put a proper / lightweight roof on the conservatory and have open plan to the knocked through space.

This is exactly what I would do - and if you have a side passage with access from the front see if you can get a door to the outside from the utility so muddy kids can be walked straight into it

@BathshebaB and @MimiSunshine
Thanks so much really helpful. Just to point out, we do have rear access. So even if we lost side access we can get into the garden from a private lane out the back, which I think makes a big difference.
But we do have two large storage units in the place where we would be putting the utility if we had it on the side, which currently contains bikes etc. Would be a shame to lose that storage or have to move it into the garden.

i would look at the costs of extending slightly out the back and see if it’d be worth it. But I think you could achieve what you need and would Definitely improve your way of living in the house plus the desirability of the house should you sell at some point. Without having to go to all the effort and cost of an extension.

or losing storage space down the side either

Was yours quite a large downstairs extension? Or just a knock through?

It might seem stupid, but some people spend their entire kids childhood scrimping and saving and then have lots of money once their kids leave home, I don't want it that way round.
My suggestion is that rather than spending it on the house, we spend it on fun family memories etc. It's no different to me paying the 60k back and then spending the amount we save each month on holidays.
The interest on both is currently equal, so we are not losing money, although I appreciate that may change and I've had some very useful advice on here about creating a home that works for us which I think is really important.
I am possibly prioritising holidays at the moment as I want to escape my house!

We had a similar debate and reconfigured which made a massive diy.

How much do you use your conservatory?

We hid a washing machine (and additional fridge and freezer) in a long run of units which just fit behind the door the room that adjoins the kitchen. All integrated with wooden worktop. TV goes above it so it was really dead space. You could do something similar in conservatory along one wall.

I put our tumble dryer in the shed. It's only a few steps from back door and on the way to or from washing line.

You could turn the dining room into your kitchen or open it all up.

We've found having two areas with sofas and TVs brilliant as kids have got older. Neither are massive and one has the extra bits described above hidden but it's still lovely to sit in. We lowered the window so it's a big picture window.

You could make the existing kitchen into a snug. Lots of options without extending.

Having seen your floor plan OP, get a downstairs toilet off that utility room! You’re going to need it when the teenage shower time gets ridiculous.

You're paying interest on the £60k over the entire lifetime of the loan. That means an additional £20-30k, interest rate dependent. That's a very expensive few holidays, so yes, it is stupid. Mortgages are not for holidays, they're for appreciating assets. I totally agree holidays are important, but you absolutely should not be funding them with a loan secured against your house. That's not my 'rule', that is what any sensible person who knows a even just a tiny amount about money will tell you.

Having seen your floor plan OP, get a downstairs toilet off that utility room! You’re going to need it when the teenage shower time gets ridiculous

Theres a downstairs toilet already.

Fair enough I take your point. At the moment it's not costing us anything but as soon as we start spending it, we will be losing out, makes sense.

Maybe the question I should be asking is do we pay for the extension or pay it back and what we save on the mortgage payment put towards holidays (I don't just mean holidays, I guess I just mean general life luxuries), or the third option is overpay the mortgage.

It has been so helpful getting opinions on that. I get the impression most people prioritise their home. One thing I'm finding difficult is that our house has already lost value so sinking more money into it feels risky. We bought at the absolute peak of the market. I'm an expert at losing money it seems!

Thanks for this I'm trying to understand what you mean. The walls of the conservatory are pretty small. We currently don't use the conservatory, it is currently housing random crap that we can't fit anywhere else as we have no garage and a leaking shed.
But we've just built a new storage unit, so we are hoping to now make the conservatory somewhere nice to sit and relax looking out onto the garden.
Its really helpful to hear imaginative ways of making the space work though so thank you.
We definitely want to keep two separate areas so we will keep the living room separate. If the kitchen was a snug where would the dining table go?
I'd love to see a floor plan of yours or a drawing! I'm intrigued!

Thanks @MimiSunshine I'm really tempted by your idea. I might try and get a quote for doing this VS the extension, it would basically just be knocking down one wall and building a new wall for the utility right?
I doubt we could go out the back any further than the conservatory wall unfortunately, but it would probably be a big enough space, especially if the kitchen didnt have to house the washing machine etc.

I think some extensions are brilliant but in your particular circumstances to gain only a utility and lose all your outside storage, I'm not sure it stacks up.

You'd still need to reconfigure and an extension, new kitchen and potentially doing structural work is not going to come in at 60k.

Why don't you write a priority list of what you want to achieve and then consider what can be achieved in other ways e.g does a tumble dryer need a dedicated utility or can we utilise other space? And what can only be achieved with significant changes e.g I want an ear in kitchen or an open plan family space.

Your downstairs is quite large, it's just not being used particularly well.

We're in a similar position, trying to decide whether or not to proceed with building work. We've lived in our home for 30 years and have grown very comfortable in it. While the location and views are truly exceptional, we're aware that the way we live doesn’t align with what buyers typically expect in this area and price range.

The house has five bedrooms but no en-suites, a small 10' x 7' kitchen, no utility room, and the white goods are housed in the garage. Although there's plenty of land, there's no paved outdoor seating area and the garden is in need of landscaping. We have planning permission for a large single-storey extension and some external improvements which would finally give the downstairs space the wow factor it’s currently missing.

The dilemma is this: when we factor in both the overdue maintenance and the cost of the planned extension and landscaping (250K-300K), the total investment may well not match the value it would add to the property. Even then, we’d still face the issue of selling a large house with no en-suite bathrooms, something that seems to be a must-have for most buyers these days. Converting one of the bedrooms to create a couple of en-suites is an option but that would mean additional costs for remodeling the upstairs. We sometimes wonder whether it would be simpler just to do the backdated maintenance, live in for another 20 years and when the time comes to sell, market the house as a project for someone else to enjoy.

Surely if you've borrowed for an extension then the loan has been given on the potential new value of the house when extended. If you simply spend the money you'll be in negative equity which is not somewhere you want to be really.

I'd definitely do the extension. Sounds like you need a new kitchen anyway, which isn't cheap. Otherwise I think you'd regret it in 10 years time (I speak from experience - we redid our kitchen which was hugely expensive as it uncovered a lot of issues that needed fixing, and now really wish we had extended at the same time).

Also I think you'd save money if you have a decent open plan space and that allows you to host kids birthday parties at home.

I wouldn't worry about a ceiling price if you plan to live there long term. You'll likely gain value and even if you don't gain much, the £60k investment will be enjoyed over the next 10-15 years.

Finally if you were to spend the money on holidays that would cause another problem as you'd get used to a fancier standard of holiday and then have to row back when the money ran out. Keep to what you are used to! (Although if you are thinking of having 4 kids it's surely going to be very expensive to go abroad with them all?!)

This is interesting. I personally wouldn't ever look for en-suite bathrooms, it's very much a 'nice to have' rather than a 'need to have'. I definitely wouldn't want to lose bedroom space for en-suites. I honestly think by losing a bedroom for en-suites you would lose value, 5 bedrooms is a huge plus (it is what sold our house to us), because it attracts families that are slightly larger or people who want a spare room or an office space for home working.
In your position I think I'd just do the maintenance work and then keep the house the way you like it. Someone will buy it and make the changes they want to make. It's so expensive to do work now I don't think there's much benefit in doing it unless you want it for yourself to enjoy, in which case do the work that you really want or need and no more.

Of course you should build the extension. Even a small one makes all the difference when space is at a premium.